Rich Did Not Buy Pardon, Clinton Says

NEW YORK — Former President Clinton said it was “utterly false” to suggest he pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich in return for donations to the planned Clinton presidential library.

“The suggestion that I granted the pardons because Mr. Rich’s former wife, Denise, made political contributions and contributed to the Clinton library foundation is utterly false,” Clinton writes in an opinion article for today’s New York Times.

“There was absolutely no quid pro quo. Indeed, other friends and financial supporters sought pardons in cases which, after careful consideration based on the information available to me, I determined I could not grant,” he said.

Clinton said he pardoned Rich only after concluding that the case should have been handled in a civil rather than a criminal court. The former president said he specifically fashioned the pardon to allow for the pursuit of possible civil charges against Rich, who allegedly evaded $48 million in U.S. taxes.

Furthermore, Clinton noted that, under the terms of the pardon, Rich was required to waive all legal defenses that he might have planned to use in the event of civil litigation brought by the government after the pardon.

Clinton’s last-minute pardon of the billionaire financier, who has lived in Switzerland since a 1983 indictment on tax evasion and other charges, has prompted a probe by U.S. prosecutors in New York and congressional hearings in Washington.

Investigators want to know whether Rich bought his pardon by passing money through his ex-wife, Manhattan socialite and Democratic fund-raiser Denise Rich.

She has acknowledged making large contributions both to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate race and to Bill Clinton’s presidential library.